1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the processing of transactions over a computer network such as the Internet and, more particular, to the delivery of digital goods or services to customers by Internet vendors without the vendor knowing the identity of the customer.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is now commonplace for consumers to purchase goods or services from on-line or e-commerce retailers. A large number of retailers have set up sites where consumers can peruse the products that are available for sale, purchase the good, or goods, in question and have the product delivered to them. Although these goods are often tangible goods, substantial traffic in digital goods, such as electronic books, music, or application software is increasing.
The electronic good may be delivered directly from the on-line merchant's computer system. However this requires the on-line merchant to maintain a copy of the digital goods that it wants to sell. If a single on-line merchant is selling the electronic products of a number of vendors of electronic content, then the merchant is typically required to inventory and manage a large amount of material for each vendor.
A second option is to redirect the customer, after his or her purchase, to a computer server maintained by the vendor. The customer can then follow the instructions at the web site of the vendor to download the product. The customer must identify himself or herself, or present some form of credential to download the purchased product. This additional step requires the customer to expose his or her identity to the vendor and to follow the particular details of the download process that that vendor utilizes. This becomes especially complicated when the customer has purchased goods that are provided by a multiplicity of vendors. The user interface and experience at each site is likely to be different, increasing the likelihood of customer confusion and greatly diminishing the on-line shopping experience. Further, placing the onus on the customer to get the product from the vendor increases the likelihood that the customer will later look to the vendor, rather than the merchant, as the source of these types of products.
If an authentication or authorization credential is given to the customer to allow him or her to request delivery of the product, attempts to steal or intercept the credential prior to its use by the legitimate customer are possible. This approach also requires the vendor to have a mechanism to prevent the re-use of credentials and to manage the access and credential verification of customers.
More preferable would be a system whereby the customer, after the purchase, may gain access to products maintained by one or more vendors without inconveniencing the customer, forcing him or her to reveal his or her identity, or putting the security of the transaction at risk, while maintaining the continuity of the shopping experience.